The basic answer is that the production lines are already set up for that size. Some number cruncher figured out they would save $0.01+ by not taking the time to switch the production lines from one to another and, instead, just switching the labels.
this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2026
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and, instead, just switching the labels
The labels may also be part of it. Vitamins need a lot of mandatory nutritional information printed on them, and they may simply have been unable to print all of that (in a reasonable font size) on a smaller bottle.
But, of course, the real unspoken reason is that it's deceptive marketing. People who don't read the label carefully will see a bigger bottle and think that it means they're getting more product inside, even if a competing brand's smaller bottle actually contains more.
i don't think labelling is the reason because plenty of medicine packaging just has fold-outs with information on it. It's actually something i find really neat.
Except they are paying to ship 50% air. Those calculations were probably made before gas prices went up.
Maybe, but even with more expensive plastic and shipping, it's still small and lightweight.
That actually makes a lot of sense. I always wondered why all my prescription bottles were so much larger than they needed to be.
My brother hates the pharmacy I use because they to often seem to be out of smaller containers and put things in ones way larger than needed for the prescription.
I bought the bottle of 360 pills at Walmart a couple years ago. Finally ran out and got more. Same brand. Same price.
Suddenly there’s only 200 pills in the bottle AND it’s in a larger bottle now? wtf?
Same brand. Same price. Suddenly there’s only 200 pills in the bottle AND it’s in a larger bottle now?
AKA Shrinkflation. Retail is full of it, and it is usually done in a way that leaves the original package size alone. The goal is to reduce the amount of product inside of the package, without changing the package noticeably. The linked Wiki page uses Toblerone as an example, but here is another good example:
The package dimensions for the peanut butter appear to stay the same, (at least when it is sitting on a shelf) so customers don’t immediately notice the smaller size. They just think “my last jar was this same size, so I’m getting the same amount.” It feels like the same amount, even though it is much less for the same price.
My personal favorite example is the Terry’s Chocolate Orange, which slightly reduced the thickness of each individual wedge. By adding that air gap between wedges, they were able to reduce the amount of chocolate in each orange by like 15%, while still maintaining the overall size and shape. Here is the old vs the new:
Notice how thin the new slices are? That means less chocolate per wedge, for the same price.
They must use the same bottle for a 400-pill bottle and a 200-pill bottle.
Are the pills the same size?
Identical.
That's even weirder - I know it's all marketing, but how do they not take into account that there are people that can compare them?
The average person wouldn’t demonstrably care. Same thing with shrinkflation. Also, depending on where you live, the average IQ and general knowledge thresholds people meet are lower than you think. We’re all living with the consequences of Gen X and older millennials that were brought up with lead gasoline and poor schooling.
They could have made the pills larger, to fill up the bottle. Then you wouldn't even guess there was something to complain about.
Bottles are made in standard sizes by the millions, they used whatever worked for this product, base on what others here have said.
Pills are mostly filler anyway, just to make them big enough to handle, and also to improve dosing per pill. The active ingredient is usually a very small part of the volume.
I guarantee, if it were cheaper, all things considered, to use a smaller bottle, they would have.
I see your point and would agree, but they have different containers. The bigger pills are mostly filler, so it would be cheaper if they made those smaller.
Bigger packaging takes up more space on the shelf, and you can print more branding on it.
The most obvious answer is shrinkflation. They may have sold units with more pills in them before but economic pressures put them in a pickle: increase price for all or keep price the same and reduce content. It's possible they had ordered a gazillion of these pill bottles and have them in storage now. They gotta use them. It would be economically and environmentally mad if they put a million of these bottles in a landfill and ordered smaller replacements.
The brand only started about 6 months ago so probably not.
Was it an Amazon owned company?
It's a Dutch Multinational.
Weird kinder surprise